A trend in the electronics industry is to generate smaller and faster electronic devices. As a result, these devices consume more power and hence, produce more heat. Excessive heat can cause significant damage to an electronic device thereby reducing its life. For this reason, various techniques are employed to eliminate or dissipate the heat generated from the electronic device.
A heat sink is one such technique. A heat sink is thermally coupled to the electronic device and as such, allows the heat to flow from the electronic device through the heat sink to the surrounding open space. FIG. 1 shows one such heat sink 100 that is designed for use with a single edge contact cartridge 2 (SECC2) package (not shown). The SECC2 package is a processor assembly that is distributed by the Intel Corporation. There is shown a heat sink 100 having a base portion 102, fins 104, and alignment tabs 106a-106b. The fins 104 conduct heat away from the electronic components on the SECC2 package. There are alignment tabs 106 on either side of base portion 102. The alignment tabs 106 are used to properly align the heat sink 100 onto the SECC2 package when the heat sink 100 is installed on the SECC2 package.
The SECC2 package assembled with the heat sink 100 can be mounted onto a circuit board. Typically, the assembled SECC2 package is then placed into a retention mechanism in order to maintain the stability of the assembled SECC2 package onto the circuit board. However, the retention mechanism may not be adequate to maintain the requisite stability to satisfy mechanical shock and vibration and to avoid damage to the circuit board. Accordingly, there is a need for a mechanism that can more effectively retain a heat sink coupled to a processor assembly to a circuit board.